The offence
Poor record keeping was at the heart of a case that occurred near Walgett where a landholder failed to fill out proper logbooks required under the conditions of their work approval. The water was taken in February 2020 during a temporary embargo on pumping. The water was taken from the Barwon River in Far Western NSW for stock and domestic purposes.
The outcome
Non-urban water meter rules are being progressively rolled out across NSW for pumps 100mm and larger and bores 200mm and larger. The date to comply with this new rule is different for different areas of the state. In the meantime, water users must maintain proper records of water used and report these. In this case, failure to do this resulted in several penalty infringement notices being issued to the landholder with thousands of dollars in fines.
The harm
It is important that logbooks are kept with adequate details as required by the landholder’s approval conditions. This ensures that the water taken can be accurately accounted for and access for downstream water users will not be negatively impacted. This was especially important during a time of severe water shortages in the region.